A status conference is set for May 17 on a Tennessee AM station's license over the owner’s conviction for tax fraud, said an order Wednesday. Descriptions of discovery and prehearing motions are due May 13, the order said (see 2203210047). The matter was designated for hearing over WJBE(AM) Powell owner Joseph Armstrong’s 2017 conviction for improper tax filings on profits he generated by selling cigarette tax stamps after a state tax increase he voted for as a state legislator.

The FCC approved and deleted two adjudicatory Media Bureau items from the agenda for Thursday’s meeting, said a deletion notice Wednesday. Since the items were restricted before being approved, the deletion notice doesn’t specify what they were, but an FCC spokesperson confirmed they were orders issued Tuesday on a tentative noncommercial educational selectee (see 2204190068) and upholding a Media Bureau ruling on an FM translator (see 2204190060).

The launch of the Run3TV web platform enables broadcasters to offer two-way interactive services and streaming content to over-the-air viewers for first time, PearlTV said Tuesday. Pearl, which developed the platform with various technical partners, will launch Run3TV through a subsidiary, the ATSC 3.0 Framework Alliance. Run3TV gives broadcasters the ability to “leverage” 3.0's new A/344 interactive content standard to create television applications that enhance OTA viewing “with interactive and on-demand content delivered over broadband,” said Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle. Run3TV’s web-based platform architecture “enables stations to develop, innovate, and differentiate at the application services layer, allowing a consistent viewer experience” across all 3.0-compliant receiver devices, said Pearl. “The broadcaster controls the product vision, audience engagement, and customer experience,” said Pearl, and broadcasters can choose their technical partners and draw from the contributions of the Run3TV “developer community,” it said.

Evoca, working with several “technology partners,” successfully transmitted TV content using ATSC 3.0's “cross-polarization” functionality, a first for the U.S., it said Tuesday. Evoca touted the accomplishment as “a new way of transmitting TV signals that could dramatically change the number of channels available from over-the-air broadcasters,” including higher bandwidth for 4K transmission options. “This week on Channel 35 in Boise we successfully demonstrated the creation and transmission of a MIMO signal,” said Evoca CEO Todd Achilles, referring to multiple-input and multiple-output. “MIMO has the potential to dramatically increase the available payload for TV broadcasts, possibly even doubling the amount of data that a broadcaster can send to improve choice and robustness.” Evoca’s MIMO cross-polarized TV broadcast involved simultaneous transmission of two discrete streams within one 6 MHz channel, said the company. Its partners included Rohde & Schwarz, Enensys Technologies, Kathrein Broadcast, Avateq and Televes. Though MIMO broadcasts have been demonstrated in other countries, it has mostly been as a “proof-of-concept effort,” said Achilles. Evoca intends to “make full use of the potential for MIMO transmission and reception,” he said.

The full FCC rejected an appeal by broadcaster Positive Hope of a Media Bureau decision reinstating an FM translator application in El Cajon, California, by Family Stations, said an order Tuesday. The Family Stations translator application had been initially rejected over interference concerns but was reinstated after the application was amended to account for a change in the FCC’s interference rules. Positive Hope applied for a translator permit that would conflict with the Family Stations translator. Positive Hope argued the Family Stations translator application would violate FCC agreements with Mexico, was filed late, and shouldn’t be considered under the new rules. The Media Bureau erred in its initial rejection of the application, and the agency has a “liberal amendment policy” for auction long-form applications, the FCC said. “Processing staff should have issued a deficiency letter and afforded Family an opportunity to correct the Translator Application rather than dismiss the application.” To correct the improper dismissal, the agency treated the Family proposal as pending, allowing it to be affected by the translator interference rule changes, the order said.

The FCC chose the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association, a consortium of tribal chairmen of several Southern California Native American tribes, as the tentative selectee for a noncommercial educational FM construction permit for Warner Springs, California, using rules that prioritize tribal applications, said an order Tuesday. The agency granted SCTCA a waiver of requirements that at least 50% of the station’s contour be composed of the applicant’s tribal lands, the order said. SCTCA told the FCC none of the 30 tribal reservations in San Diego and Riverside counties could meet the agency’s tribal population requirements “owing to ‘small size and native population dilution within surrounding areas.’” It “would be extremely difficult for a Tribe or Tribal consortium to claim a Tribal Priority in this area without a waiver of the Tribal Coverage criterion,” the order said.

Tests of GeoBroadcast Solutions geotargeted radio technology show it works in a variety of environments, said National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston and Roberts Radio CEO Steve Roberts in meetings last week with FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and aides to both Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-401. The agency opened up a new round of comments in the proceeding Monday. A report on the tests from broadcast engineers Roberson and Associates said the geotargeted broadcasts were narrowly targeted even in terrain without many impediments to signal propagation. The additional tests were performed on the technology in response to questions from the Media Bureau, the filing said. The tests also showed the tech doesn’t affect emergency alert system broadcasts, the filing said. “Giving broadcasters who wish to the ability to deploy geo-targeting technology can give minority and smaller broadcasters a new tool with which to compete,” the filing said. NAB, iHeartMedia, and other companies opposed the GBS proposal (see 2204070055).

The 40-year-old National Translator Association has rebranded as the National Television Association, said the group Monday. “The change, while difficult, was due,” said Jack Mills, NTA president. “Our service goals are largely the same but binding these just to the mountain-top repeaters, or 'translators,' began to feel constraining.” NTA's name change “helps the organization to expand its advocacy, welcoming [low-power] LPTV and even possibly new technologies such as ATSC 3.0 broadcast services,” it said, calling translator an “archaic” word. NTA’s goal of “assuring universal access to free over-the-air television remains the same,” it said. The NTA’s annual meeting is May 19-22 in Phoenix.

The FCC Media Bureau wants additional comments on the GeoBroadcast Solutions geotargeted radio proposal, after tests of the company’s FM booster technology, said a public notice posted Monday in docket 20-401. NAB, which opposes the proposal, asked the FCC to close the proceeding’s docket, in a recent ex parte filing. As part of the experimental test authority the FCC granted to allow the tests, GBS provided detailed technical reports on the technology, information that wasn’t available to the public during the first round of comments in 2021, the PN said. The second comment cycle is “in light of these recent developments and to provide a complete record on developments since the completion of the commenting cycle in this matter,” the PN said. Comments will be due 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies 45 days after.

NAB completed construction on a new media production facility at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, it said in a news release Monday. The studio was built with donations of “critical equipment and studio design services” from numerous companies, including Vitec, Magis Media and Planar, the release said. The association “has a critical need for advanced audio and video production capabilities,” said NAB Executive Vice President-Industry Affairs April Carty-Sipp. The studio includes a 15-foot, curved, interactive video wall to be a backdrop for recordings, robotic cameras and an edit suite capable of 8K post-production. “NAB will use the studio to create national spots and branded educational content for its members,” the release said. “External organizations may rent the studio and its staff for original productions as well.”